New York Comic Con 2011

Comic Con, the ultimate geek movie festival, took the Big Apple by storm this weekend. Comic book and movie fans alike flooded the Javits Center in midtown Manhattan decked out in their best geekwear--from The Joker to Spiderman to Morpheus and even Leelo from The Fifth Element--to gawk over some of the cool poster art, photos, and other comic book memorabilia at the event. This leg of the festival also featured quite a few cool panels, during which the talent behind such cult faves as The Walking Dead, The Avengers, The Green Lantern, Attack the Block, and Red Tails (its graphic poster is to the right) discussed the creative process and what the fans can expect.

In the Red Tails panel on Saturday, moderated by Miles Perkins, the director of marketing and communications for Industrial Light & Magic (under producer George Lucas's production company), the crowd went wild over the exclusive new clips from the action-packed movie. The rest of the panel included cast members Michael B. Jordan (Friday Night Lights) and Leslie Odom Jr. (CSI: Miami and the upcoming series House of Lies), who play Maurice Wilson and Walter Hall in the movie, which follows the story of the legendary Tuskegee Airmen and their WWII victory. Graphic writer Aaron McGruder (The Boondocks), who co-wrote the movie with John Ridley, also joined the panel. But the real bonus was the addition of Dr. Roscoe Brown, one of the original Tuskegee Airmen, who was consulted for the movie. His candid memories of the time were a treat to listen to. He's clearly excited about the movie (which is in theaters January 12, 2012), even saying "This movie is very important. I'm very proud George Lucas is doing this movie." Perkins went further in saying, "We're making a film about heroes, not victims."

With the amount of downtrodden black movies being celebrated on the big screen, it will be great to see a movie with black characters that can truly be celebrated as an uplifting project. I'm looking forward to this.

Check out other cool photos from the event below.